


free falling love addict

by hargrovebuckley



Series: what do you want from me? [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Gen, M/M, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Stranger Things 2, as in all of s1 and s2 still happens but no demogorgons or demodogs or that bs, just other traumatic shit, to bring them together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21829510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hargrovebuckley/pseuds/hargrovebuckley
Summary: And it’s Thursday, a week after Steve and Nancy officially broke up, and Nancy is still dating Jonathan, and Steve is still fine, and Billy Hargrove is still there, and Nancy wants to knowwhy.-or; Nancy and Steve break up at the Halloween party. Nancy tries to figure out why Steve is fine with it and is hanging out with the new kid.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: what do you want from me? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573270
Comments: 27
Kudos: 379





	free falling love addict

**Author's Note:**

> title from poplar st by glass animals
> 
> hi i currently have another fic in the works that's a monster at over 20k which is the most i've ever written but i needed a break from it. so here's this
> 
> au where the upside down doesn't happen so instead of steve, nancy, and jonathan fighting the demogorgon, they get attacked by a rabid dog. barb still goes missing.
> 
> i have nothing against nancy, idk if people are gonna think i do after reading this, i just wanted to write something like this from her pov
> 
> unbeta'd bc i'm tired and my friend isn't answering my dms lol

Nancy was confused, to say the least.

She thought that Steve would be more upset about their breakup.

Don’t get her wrong, she’s happy that he seems to be fine, that he’s okay with her and Jonathan dating so soon after she dumped him.

But she’s been remembering little tidbits from the drunken Halloween party and just can’t wrap her head around how nonchalant Steve is acting.

She remembers getting progressively more drunk as the night went on, dancing with Steve while also not paying attention to him, staying by his side while looking around the room. She remembers wandering off when Steve couldn’t take his eyes off the new kid, the one from California, getting more mystery punch before Steve found her moments later. She remembers spilling the punch, of Steve following her into the bathroom, of trying and failing to get the red stain out of her ruined cashmere sweater.

She remembers _it’s bullshit_ and _you don’t love me?_ and Steve leaving her alone in the bathroom. 

She doesn’t really remember the rest of the night, except stumbling out of the house with Jonathan’s arms keeping her steady, and of a glimpse of Steve still at the party, sitting on a couch with the new kid standing over him.

Nancy tries to reconcile the anger and hurt on Steve’s face that night, the tears that were welled in his eyes that refused to fall, with the cool and calm exterior he presented to her when she confronted him the next day during his basketball practice.

He wasn’t truly unaffected, a bitter twist at his mouth when he asked her if she loved him. But besides that moue, he seemed fine. He wasn’t mad, or upset, or even jealous when she told him Jonathan brought her home. The Steve from her sophomore year, when they first started dating, wouldn’t have been able to stomach the thought of another boy taking care of his girlfriend. Now, he seems indifferent, maybe glad to know someone else was there for her because he wasn’t anymore.

And that confused her even more. It seemed like Steve didn’t want to keep dating her, or get back together with her, or whatever; Nancy’s not even sure if they broke up that night at the party, or when they confirmed Nancy’s lack of feelings for him.

Whatever the case is, they’re broken up, and Nancy’s with Jonathan, and Steve is… fine.

Steve is just fine.

*

She sees Steve in the hallways, but they don’t talk to each other. If they make eye contact, Steve will nod his head in acknowledgement, and Nancy will smile back with closed-lips, but otherwise they don’t interact. Nancy sometimes forgets that they weren’t really friends, definitely not before they got together, and not even while they were. They were just boyfriend and girlfriend, _NancyandSteve_ and _SteveandNancy_. Nothing more to their relationship.

So, she sees Steve in the hallways, and they don’t talk, but she does catch glimpses of him talking to other people. It seems like since they broke up a week ago, Steve is back to being friends with Tommy H. and Carol. That, however, might have to do with the new kid.

Billy Hargrove seems to have been the missing piece in the Steve-Tommy-Carol puzzle, not Nancy. Not that Nancy wanted to be apart of it, but it stings to know she was the cause of the rift between the childhood friends, and that the new kid was the one to bring them back together again.

With the Californian in the limelight, Steve has climbed the popularity ladder again just by being friends with him. Nancy’s not there to drag him down anymore, and Steve has taken his rightful place as king once more.

The royal crown appears to switch heads between the two. Billy beat Steve’s keg stand record at the Halloween party, but supposedly Steve won the title back at a party that took place over the weekend.

Nancy thought Hargrove would’ve had a problem with that; the guy seems to have a superiority complex, having to be the top dog of any place he’s in.

Instead, Hargrove strolled up to Steve’s locker on Monday morning and jauntily placed a plastic crown on his head. Nancy watched from Jonathan’s side as Steve laughed and tried to put the crown on Billy, how Billy had ducked under Steve’s arm to get away but still stay close to the other boy. How easy it was for Billy to fill up the empty void Nancy left, and Nancy wonders how that came to be.

But now it’s Thursday, a week after Steve and Nancy officially broke up, and Nancy is still dating Jonathan, and Steve is still fine, and Billy Hargrove is still there, and Nancy wants to know why.

Nancy and Steve don’t share lunch like they did last year, but Steve has a free period during Nancy’s lunch, so they would always spend it together, sometimes with Jonathan, sometimes just the two of them.

Now, Steve sits at a table with Billy Hargrove, because Hargrove is a junior just like Nancy, so they share their lunch period, and it seems like Nancy can’t get away from him or from Steve.

At this moment, though, she doesn’t want to. Lunch will be a perfect time to observe and approach, figure out why Steve is just _fine_ when Steve said he was in love with her and how, now, he’s just _not_. It hasn’t even been a _week_.

Nancy really thought there was something more to their relationship. They went through traumatizing shit, what with Barb going missing that night at Steve’s little house party, with Steve calling Nancy a slut and Jonathan a pervert, but subsequently apologizing for how much of a douchebag he was. With getting attacked and fighting off a rabid dog with Nancy and Jonathan, coming out of that scrap with a few cuts and bruises, but the three of them patching each other up at the end of it.

The three of them formed a friendship and they share traumas. Even though Nancy and Steve aren’t together anymore, even though Nancy is now with Jonathan, the three of them should still have some kind of relationship.

So that Thursday, a week into November, seven days after Nancy thought she broke Steve’s heart, 168 hours after Billy swooped in and took her place, Nancy leaves Jonathan sitting at their lunch table in the corner of the cafeteria to go over and talk to Steve.

Steve is, of course, sitting with Hargrove, because when aren’t they together now? If they’re not in their respective classes, the two are always with each other, in the halls between periods, in the parking lot before and after school, on the bleachers for a smoke break, they’re never apart. It’s daunting how quickly they fell into each other’s orbit, how fast they got along and how well they fit together.

The two share the bench, though they face each other. Steve is straddling the seat with his back to Nancy, so Hargrove is the one who sees her first. He nudges Steve with the hand resting atop his bent knee, and says something that Nancy is still too far away to catch. Nancy watches the way Steve’s shoulders tense, and how they slowly relax when Hargrove places a palm on his knee.

Hargrove stares Nancy down as she comes closer, hand still resting on Steve until she reaches them. Steve hasn’t looked at her yet, eyes on his hands fidgeting in his lap, or on the hand the new kid still hasn’t removed; Nancy’s not sure.

She coughs softly to gain Steve’s attention, startled to find a false smile on his face when Steve finally turns to her.

“Hi Steve.”

“Nancy.”

Hargrove doesn’t say anything yet, though he has slowly slid his hand off of Steve’s knee, drawing the boy’s attention away from Nancy once more.

Nancy clears her throat again. “I uh… I just wanted to see how you were. How, um, your college essay is going.”

Steve shrugs. “I’m fine.” Nancy hates that word, now. “The essay came out to be shit. Until Billy helped me with it.” He smiles a bit and kicks lightly at Hargrove underneath the table.

Hargrove snorts. “‘Helped’ you with it,” he mocks. “Pretty boy, I completely rewrote that paper for you.” He smirks a bit, tongue pressing to his teeth as he stares at Steve. “Don’t think I forgot about how you still owe me for my ‘help’.” 

Nancy watches as a blush begins to grow on Steve’s face, a strange emotion bubbling in her stomach. She lightly touches Steve’s shoulder, mirroring how Steve’s own hand settles on Hargrove’s chest after jokingly shoving him.

“Um, Steve.” The two look up at her expectantly. “Can I talk to you for a second? Alone.”

Turning away from her once again, Steve shoots Billy a look. Billy seems to be able to read it, because he says, “Don’t worry about me, pretty boy. I still have that physics lab to finish up.” He grabs his bag from the floor and stands up.

“Dude,” Steve scolds. “I thought you were gonna finish that last night.” He watches as Billy packs up his stuff to leave, brows furrowed and lips pouted. Steve used to give Nancy that look when she actually wanted to study during their study dates. The strange feeling in her belly persists.

Billy shoots him a smirk. “I was a little busy last night,” he purrs, tongue making an appearance again as he wags it. He shoots them a mock salute. “See ya later, Stevie.” He nods his head at Nancy, finally gracing her with his attention. “Wheeler.” With that he turns around, heading toward the exit doors.

Nancy waits while Steve watches him go, only getting up himself when Hargrove disappears from sight.

“Alright,” he sighs, shrugging one strap of his bag over his shoulder. “Where do you wanna talk?”

“Follow me,” Nancy replies, spinning on her heel. She doesn’t look behind her to check if he’s coming, just assuming Steve would go along with her request like he used to during their relationship. That might be a mistake now, but she can hear his footsteps behind her, a relieving reassurance.

She walks them to the alleyway behind the gym, the same one where they had their confrontation the day after Tina’s party.

Once deemed deep enough into the alley, away from prying eyes and curious ears, Nancy turns toward Steve. He’s leant against the brick wall opposite from her, arms loosely crossed over his chest, head tilted inquisitively. Similar to how he was last week, though he was a bit tenser then, not looking forward to their talk.

Steve’s calm now, no tightness to his mouth or shoulders. Relaxed in posture and mind.

When Nancy doesn’t say anything, Steve prompts, “So? What did you want to talk about?”

She lets out a breath. “I just wanted to find out how you’re doing after… what happened between us last week. We haven’t spoken since then.”

Huffing, maybe slightly irritated, Steve retorts, “I already said I was fine. I’m not one to lie.” Ouch. “And we’re not exactly friends, Nance. I don’t have to keep you up to date on everything going on in my life.”

Nancy feels heat rising to her cheeks, out of embarrassment or frustration, she’s not sure. “I know that. But we were together for a year. We went through traumatic shit. I thought I’d have the right to check up on you.”

“Well, you don’t,” Steve says shortly. “You lost that right when you said you never loved me and then skipped town with Jonathan the next day.”

There’s the anger over their break up Nancy was fishing for. “You say you’re fine, but you keep throwing that in my face! Are we fine or not?”

Steve closes his eyes, and lets out a heavy breath through his nose. Nancy spots his fists clenched tightly, but they slowly release their grip with Steve’s exhale.

“You’re right,” Steve acknowledges. “I can’t say I’m fine and still get mad at you; that’s not fair. But I actually am fine. I uh.” Here, he smiles softly, cheeks tinting a light pink. “I’m seeing someone, too.”

Well. Nancy wasn’t expecting that.

“Already?” Nancy asks, then winces at her hypocrisy, which Steve isn’t afraid to call her out on.

“Oh, please.” He rolls his eyes. “Yes, _already_. I met them the night of the party. After we broke up.”

“We didn’t break up ’til the next day.”

“The way I see it,” and the slight hostility is back in his tone, “we broke up the second you said our relationship was bullshit.”

And, okay. Nancy can understand his reasoning behind that. She might not like it, or agree, but she gets where he’s coming from.

The silence settles between them for a moment, long enough for Nancy’s thoughts to whirlwind before she blurts out, “Do I know her?”

“Yes.” He doesn’t elaborate.

Nancy blows out air from her lungs impatiently. “Well?” Steve raises his eyebrows. “Who is she?”

Shaking his head, Steve says, “Not telling. We don’t want to broadcast it.”

Ugh. “Can you tell me about her at least?” So sue her, she wants to know who Steve moved onto with so quickly. Nancy knew Jonathan for a year, and Steve obviously knows him. Nancy feels like she deserves to know something, no matter how small and insignificant.

Steve smirks. “I can tell you that you don’t like them.”

Nancy groans, and shoves his shoulder playfully. For a second, she thinks she went too far, initiating contact, but he just laughs and rubs where she pushed him.

Shaking her head, she drops the subject and moves onto what’s also been on her mind. “So. Since when are you and Billy Hargrove friends? Last thing I officially knew, he was posturing all up in your face at the party.”

Steve runs a hand through his hair, chuckling lightly. “We actually hung out that night. After leaving the bathroom after our, uh, fight, I went to go leave. He followed me out to my car. I thought he was gonna start something, but we ended up talking and shooting the shit all night. He made me feel better.” He shrugs lamely.

Huh. “Well, I’m glad he was there. I still think he’s an asshole and I don’t like him.” Steve eyes spark at that, and he laughs. Nancy doesn’t get it.

“Good thing you don’t have say on who I hang out with,” Steve says with an upturn of his nose, a dig at how he stopped being friends with Tommy H. and Carol while they were dating.

Before Nancy can retort back that Steve was the one who decided on who he did and didn’t associate with, an exclamation at the front of the alley draws their attention.

“Pretty boy!” Hargrove shouts, cocky smile on his face as he saunters over to them. Distaste fills Nancy’s mouth, making her smack her lips.

Billy pays her no mind when he reaches them, throwing a casual arm around Steve and dragging the taller boy into his side. He smiles smugly and purrs, “Found you.”

Steve rolls his eyes while Nancy interrogates, “How did you know where we were?”

Billy lazily tilts his head in her direction. “This is where your last lovers’ quarrel happened.”

Nancy blinks at his deduction. He’s smart. Nancy almost forgot, but how could she? He’s in the same AP classes as her.

Steve rolls his eyes again, but there’s a happy little smile on his lips, like he’s pleased that Billy came looking for him.

“Did you need something?”

Billy drifts his eyes away from her. “Figured I’d save you from the princess.” Nancy bristles, but it’s not the worst thing that’s been insinuated about her by present company. “Also, I need some help with my lab. You’re better at math than me.”

Steve shoots an apologetic smile at her. It’s the most genuine expression he’s looked at her with in a week. “Duty calls, Nance. I’ll see you around.”

Nancy nods. She should probably get back to Jonathan before he gets worried. “Bye Steve.” She shifts her eyes to Hargrove. “Billy.”

Billy smirks at her from where his head is practically on Steve’s shoulder. “Nancy,” he coos, sourly sweet.

The two move away in tandem. Steve places a hand on Billy waist, his fingers tucked in Billy’s belt loop hidden from Nancy’s view.

She watches them go, a bitter flavor on her tongue. But she can’t say she’s not content to know that Steve isn't one hundred percent happy about their relationship ending. She’s also glad to know that Steve didn’t end up drinking himself into a stupor that night, that he had Hargrove there to look out for him.

She still wants to know who’s he’s dating. She’ll figure it out eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on [tumblr](https://hargrovebuckley.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/hargrovebuckley/)


End file.
